Michel Roux Sr said young TV chefs 'know nothing’ and most are motivated
by fame and financial greed

The master chef whose books and restaurants triggered a revolution in British cooking has attacked a generation of greedy young celebrity chefs for cashing in with “appalling” cookbooks and too many television series.

Michel Roux Sr said many of today’s celebrity chefs “know nothing” because they are so young, and questioned how anyone aged only 35 could write a cookery book.

At least half the books on the market are “absolute rubbish” and should never have been published, he said.

Mr Roux declined to name his targets, but criticised “TV personality chefs” writing books to exploit their fame.

He said: “How can a chef at 30 or 35 – even if he’s a good one – write a cookery book? He knows nothing.”

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Instead young celebrity chefs’ books are a “mishmash” of ideas and recipes taken from other people and other books, said Mr Roux. “It’s a mockery. Like writing your autobiography at the age of 30 – what have you really got to say?”

He believed that his industry had become “greedy”.

Mr Roux and his brother Albert are credited with pioneering the transformation in British food when they opened Le Gavroche in 1967.

Several of his recipe books, which he did not begin until he was in his 40s, are considered set texts by many cooks. The same cannot be said for today’s avalanche of cookbooks, Mr Roux warned, particularly those published to cash in on the Christmas market.

“One in two are absolute rubbish,” he said. “They’re not worth the paper they’re printed on. The rest are hit and miss.”

Mr Roux, 72, also hinted that many cookbooks are ghostwritten. He said: “My books are like children to me. I’d never use a ghostwriter. I write down the recipes with a pencil and work on them over six months. I have creative control over the pictures and descriptions. It’s not the same with many others.”

Le Gavroche became the first British restaurant to earn a Michelin star and the brothers’ other restaurant, The Waterside Inn, has had three for 27 years.

The family restaurant empire is now run by their sons, Alain and Michel Jr.

Michel Sr conceded that the boom in cookery television series had raised the profile of his profession, but said it attracted people interested in fame, rather than those driven by a love of food.

He said: “I would say one third of the people getting involved in cooking today come into it for the wrong reason.”

He is now working on a restaurant in a Vietnamese resort. He said the Vietnamese are still excited by food, while the French and British had become jaded.

He said: “They think they know everything. Many people are snobs – they go somewhere because it’s a name. It’s not about the food and more.”